Tamang, 75, announced his candidacy for party presidency at a press conference organized by a group of ´independent´ but ´likeminded´ NC leaders at party headquarters in Sanepa Sunday.[break]
The group claiming to be non-aligned to both Koirala and Deuba camps also announced to field candidacy of Narhari Acharya for the post of general secretary in the convention scheduled for September 17-21.
The NC leaders said the candidacies were announced to help forge broader unity within the party and steer the party ahead with the ideals held by the late B P Koirala.
Tamang said the NC is badly in need of greater unity within the party and his candidacy aims to work to that end. "My candidacy is for reinforcing the agenda of inclusiveness," said Tamang, who belongs to indigenous nationalities. "I will try to establish the agenda put forth in the party by the late B P Koirala."
Born in 1935 in Jhule VDC in Dolakha district, Tamang was highly inspired by the ideals of the late Koirala. Tamang who served as Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs in 1997 has been living for decades in a room provided free of cost by party central member Radhe Shyam Adhikari in his house in Kathmandu.
Tamang complained that the NC is left with an ideological vacuum due to power struggle. "I have decided to file my candidacy for the post of president with a commitment to recharge the party with its distinct ideology espoused by the late B P Koirala," he said.
Contender for the post of general secretary Acharya said their candidacies aim at ending factionalism that has been existing for long within the party. He said factionalism has appeared as a serious disease in the party. "Our candidacy attempts to do away with such factionalism."
NC leader Chakra Prasad Bastola who took initiative to form a loose alliance of non-aligned leaders said they do not plan to form a faction as such in the upcoming convention. "We will try to include if some good colleagues join us," he said.
Senior leaders Mahesh Acharya, Minendra Rijal, Purna Bahadur Khadka, Amod Prasad Upadhyaya, Dr Narayan Khadka, Suprabha Ghimire and Pradip Giri, among others, are in the group.
Bastola said some 30 percent of the total 3,000-plus general convention representatives are neutral to both Sushil and Deuba factions. "The candidacies were filed keeping in view such votes and help give the Nepali Congress a new life and steer it to a new direction," he added.
Of the total 85-member Central Working Committee, 64 including the president, one general secretary and one treasurer are elected through the convention. Bastola said they will announce candidacies in other positions including the CWC members in the coming days.
With local level convention of the party almost over, NC leaders have begun announcing their candidacies in various posts. Besides Koirala and Deuba announcing their candidacies for the post of president, K B Gurung and Sujata Koirala have announced that they would contest for the post of general secretary.
Myrepublica.com published a story on Bhim Bahadur Tamang in January, 2009 - A Gandhian in NC rues moral decline in party.
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